Spahn Ranch is a dance oriented band.
Their record The Coiled One is still one of my favorite records
ten years after it's come out. Athan is the singer & vocalist,
Matt plays keyboards & writes the sequences, during the 1995 tour Kent
played guitar.

QRD – what technique do you use to write
your lyrics? do you just collect cool phrases to go together or are
they really connected to each other?

Athan – well, I think the songs are sometimes
disjointed, because I do take things from all walks of life & kind
of put them under one song. sometimes they don't need to make sense
necessarily to anybody but me in a way. but I definitely write with
some intent of some sort.

QRD – so they are connected in each individual
song....

Athan – there's somewhat of a theme on
this album; as close to a theme as I can get, which isn't very close, but
there is a theme.

QRD – what action figure would you like
to represent yourself?

Athan – Obi-Wan Kinobi.

Matt – GI Joe with kung fu grip.

Kent – I agree with that, GI Joe with
the kung fu grip, sailor model.

Matt – either that or one of the rock-em-sock-em
robots.

Kent – no, Big Jim. no, Fonzie.

Matt – there's enough of those in LA

QRD – what do you think about aliens &
ufo's?

Matt – they exist.

Kent – I think they do too. I think
there's a cover up by our government.

Matt – a complete cover up.

Kent – because they're trying to avoid
mass hysteria, basically.

Matt – & because basically it'll just
let everyone know that religion's a pile of shit.

Kent – it will. it will totally
break down basically all religious structure.

Matt – especially the catholic religion,
which would crumble.

QRD – do you have any cool tour stories?

Athan – any cool tour stories...
well, quite honestly, we have spent so much time in the van I think we
have an idea of what an isolation tank is like.

Kent – I feel like I've been going around
in a space capsule, like for fifteen days.

Matt – yeah, a space capsule without much
leg room.

Athan – we have had some "rock" stories,
but I'd probably not want to mention them here.

QRD – do you have a varied listenership
from industrial to trance to gothic to rave?

Athan – I'd definitely say so. without
a doubt. for sure.

Kent – I've spoken to a variety of kids
after shows & all of them loved it. really totally hardcore goth
kids; &, mostly in big cities like LA, we spoke to some rave kids.

Matt – I don't think we really settle
into any exact category, or at least I hope we don't. so I guess
from that we get the variation. as long as we don't get some grunge
loser that's fine with me.

QRD – have you had any cool dreams lately?

Matt – I have fucked up dreams every time
I eat before I go to bed. I don't know if I should go into this.
some of the dreams I've had have been a little too prophetic.

Kent – it's been really strange because
we've been on a really hectic schedule. so I have to admit my sleep
patterns have been a little warped lately & there's been some weird
images, no particular dreams, but some scary stuff going on.

Athan – I've actually been having these
strange dreams about my family & I don't know what it means.
these like surreal... I can't even explain it.

QRD – do you have any favorite films?

Athan – do you have two hours?

Matt – yeah, exactly. you're talking
to film buffs.

Kent – all of us really love movies.

Matt – why don't we each pick one?
Aguirre, the Wrath of God.

Kent – yeah.

Athan – I think M is my favorite film.

QRD – are you as famous as you want to
be?

Matt – no.

QRD – do you want to be more or less?

Matt – I want to be more successful.
I don't know if I want to be more famous. I don't know if I want
people to run into me on the street. I like being anonymous.
I'd like to be anonymous, but I'd like to be famous for the music.
I'd rather the name Spahn Ranch become famous than the name Matt Green
become famous, let's put it that way.

Kent – & I think for me there's a
lot of work I'd like to do. there's a lot of music I'd like to make
& as I make more music we'll become more familiar to more people.
I don't think there's anything wrong with that, I think it's a good thing.

Athan – I think it kind of just comes
along. you really don't have much of a choice, it just happens.
if you like you like it, if you don't you don't. it's a question
you have to ask when you get there & we're not there.

QRD – do you have any particular musical
influences?

Matt – do you have two hours? for
me, old influences, I'd say Wire taught me more about music than anyone
else. about structure & texture.

QRD – old school Wire like Pink Flag?

Matt – all of it. I like even the
new stuff. I buy every-thing those guys make. all their solo
stuff, everything.

QRD – even Manscape?

Matt – you know, Manscape grows on you.
when I first bought it, I thought it sucked, but it grows on you.
& I'd say of current stuff, I really like Left Field, I like Genoreactor,
I like a lot of dub, that's what I listen to now.

Athan – me, influences huh? well,
I guess for the kind of stuff we're doing, I guess Bowie was always a big
influence on me. probably let's say 68-80 in that time period just
about everything. but, once again, between Matt & I, we probably
own about 5000 releases of all kinds of music. I like a lot of black
1950's & 40's music. but, when it comes to our music, the Sisters
of Mercy are one of my favorite bands of all time, the list is endless.
as for modern stuff, I like our genre a lot. there's definitely some
stuff that stands out. we're real big on that Birmingham 6 album,
but then again that's not necessarily an influence, but just current stuff
we may like.

Kent – more like our peers.

Matt – yeah, I like a lot of our peers
actually.

Kent – for me, I come from the Stooges
& David Bowie & the second generation of that Bauhaus & the
Sisters of Mercy. when I heard "Temple of Love" for the first time
when it came out in 1983 I was just like, "this is where I want to be at."

QRD – are you appearing on the Bauhaus
tribute then?

Kent – actually I am, but not with Spahn
Ranch. I'm appearing with a side project I did called Ghost Train.
we did "Man with the X-Ray Eyes."

Athan – I did a cut on that too.
I did "The Tree Shadows."

QRD – which part?

Athan – part two, with Eva O singing back
up vocals, so it should be pretty cool. very mellow.

QRD – do you have any favorite fast food
meal?

Athan – actually, I have to admit I have
a hedging for kentucky fried chicken.

QRD – any particular meal?

Athan – I like chicken breast myself.

Kent – a two piece breast meal with a
biscuit & corn on the cob.

Athan – cracker barrel.

Kent – cracker barrel's good, but that's
not fast food. if you eat fast food for a week you are just ready
to die. it's so horrible. mcdonald's, we just won't even go
to mcdonald's any more.

QRD – wendy's?

Kent – wendy's I like, but you can only
eat it once in a while.

QRD – do you like playing live or do you
feel it's necessary?

Athan – when I'm not playing live, I'm
thinking about playing live.

Kent – I love playing live.

Matt – I love playing live. actually,
we never played a live show until we made our second record, the first
full length. we never even played a show & kind of didn't want
to; but once we started doing it ? I love it now. it's my favorite
thing.

QRD – which of the Star Trek series is
your favorite?

Matt – the original is the only series.
all the others can go suck down an ounce.

Athan – I live for the original Star Trek.
in fact, we did our video... I forget the name of the episode....

Matt – at Guess Rocks.

Athan – that's where it was.

Matt – he's fighting that monster....

Kent – Kirk & the reptilian captain
of another ship are fighting & he ends up making a cannon & shooting
diamonds at the guy. we shot our video on those rocks where they
shot that episode. so there is a connection to that question, that's
very good. but the original... I think Patrick Stewart is a really
good actor & considering....

Kent – I like P.G. O'Rourke. he's
a little conservative, but he really tears down republicans so that's okay.
he's very hysterical.

Athan – Harry Cruise, that's another contemporary
writer I really like. All We Need of Help, it's a great book.

Kent – basically just read.

Matt – & my favorite classic of all
time is The Good Earth by Pearl Buck.

QRD – how do you feel about people starting
to watch films to replace reading?

Matt – they should do both.

Kent – both media are totally valid means
of expression, but they're different.

Matt – watching film is important, watching
sitcoms isn't.

Athan – most of them at least. all
of them post 1960.

Matt – I think All in the Family was the
last good one.

QRD – is there anything else in particular
that you think people should know that's going on?

Matt – that people should know?
they should just be aware. they should question everything around
them. just try & obtain as much information in life as possible.
oh, & don't forget about Buck Minster Fuller. he's one of my
favorite writers; his ideology is really intelligent.

Kent – quit watching too much television.
do things. don't live vicariously through your television set, actually
go out & do things. I think that's more important than anything.
people just get off work & they crash on the couch in front of the
tv for hour & that's not good.

Athan – I don't know. I don't have
a comment.

QRD – & is there anything going on
with Spahn Ranch any time soon? any compilation appearances?

Matt – a lot. there will be Industrial
Revolution 3, there's a Cleopatra comp called Wired, there's a couple of
other comps I can't remember the names of. & there's an ep next
year of remixes & stuff. that'll be out in february I think.
& Zoth Ommog are putting out our album with three bonus tracks in january.